1 post tagged “tax”
Australia has become the first country to tax income made in Virtual worlds...
"If a virtual transaction has real world implications — if it can be attributed a monetary value — it attracts the attention of the Tax Office. Sites such as slexchange.com set rates for swapping Second Life's Linden dollars for 'real' money. 'The real world value of a transaction may form part of your taxable income, even if it is in Linden dollars,' the ATO spokeswoman says. 'In addition, there may be GST (goods and services tax) to consider.' In other words, if you are turning over the equivalent of more than $50,000 selling virtual jewelery to Second Life avatars, you must get an ABN (Australian Business Number) and register for GST."
Source: The Age
Interesting... does that mean me buying a lvl 60 character in World of Worldcraft to help train up my lvl 27 could be considered a business expense? Better start up those uni courses: Virtual Property Law, Virtual Tax Law and don't forget Virtual Criminal Law for when you get caught at an online virtual brothel which is actually run by a 17-year-old boy (cf. The Sims Online). Depending on which industry expert you talk to valuations of the secondary market, i.e. the real money trade of virtual commodities, range from around $1 Billion USD to $3 Billion USD in 2006. Why wouldn't you tax it.
